LCRA considering firm water restrictions

The Lower Colorado River Authority is considering requiring its firm water customers to adopt a maximum once-per-week watering schedule that would apply anytime the combined storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis falls below 900,000 acre-feet, or 45% of capacity, including this spring if combined storage is below that level.

Customers are urged to monitor combined storage, which currently is below 900,000 acre-feet, on LCRA’s River Operations Report.

The proposed new watering requirement also would apply to LCRA domestic, temporary, landscape irrigation and recreational use customers.

The LCRA Board of Directors will consider adopting the new requirement at its Feb. 21 meeting in Austin as an amendment to the Drought Contingency Plan for Firm Water Customers. Firm water customers would have until May 1, to adopt the watering restrictions.

Firm water customers, which are primarily municipalities, water districts and industries, would be required to limit their own or their end-user customers’ outdoor watering to no more than once a week. The proposed schedule would apply to watering landscaped areas, such as lawns, with hose-end sprinklers or automatic irrigation systems, other than drip irrigation.

Firm water customers that fail to adopt or implement the watering restriction would be subject the following penalties: First documented violation: Written notice of violation.

Second documented violation: Penalty of up to $2,000.

Third and subsequent violations: Penalties of up to $10,000.

Each day the violation is observed is considered a separate violation.

LCRA customers that supply water to end users would determine how to enforce the new watering schedule and what penalties to assess their end users not following the water restrictions.

LCRA domestic, temporary, landscape irrigation and recreational use customers would be required to water no more than once a week beginning immediately upon approval from the LCRA Board. LCRA would update the drought contingency plan that applies to these customers to include the new watering schedule. Violators would be subject to surcharges as specified in the plan.

The watering schedule would remain in place until the combined storage of the lakes increases to at least 1.1 million acre-feet.

LCRA is considering additional changes to the Drought Contingency Plan this spring and will post other proposed changes for public comment after the Feb. 21 Board meeting.